This sounds shady to me. Did they even prove to you that the page in question was damaged? That would be the first thing I'd want to see, just for my own knowledge. However, sending them another loose certificate not attached to anything else is an invitation to fraud and a no-no, as the others have said. What's to stop them from using it on some other document, without your knowledge or that of the borrower(s)?
I suspect we'd all be shocked at how often stuff like this happens - and at all the 'little fixes' that take place in some title, escrow, or lender offices. Once again, this is why it's so critical for us all to know our craft. Kudos to you for not taking their word for what you need to do and for checking with some hopefully more knowledgeable sources.
The ultimate source about what is and is not acceptable, however, should first always be our own state's Handbook, if there is one. Not every issue will be addressed there, but if that's our first go-to spot for every question, even if we don't find the answer we wanted, we'll pick up other information in the process that we may have forgotten and will be steadily getting better and growing our knowledge. That's automatic for me now. [I've had our's bookmarked for easy access for as long as I can remember.]
I trust my state's Handbook more than I would an answer from anyone else, especially someone I don't know, whether they're sitting on a hotline somewhere, posting on a forum like this, or even in the SOS office (or whatever office it is in your state that regulates all things notary related). Just sayin'... [BTW, the last couple of comments was mostly prompted by a different post below. ]
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